Don't Gotta Be Drunk to Say It

Sip 27: PoC as a Trump Card

Take a moment to read that picture I've attached to this chapter and let it resonate with you.

Scratch that, forget that the minute you finish reading it. You know why? Because it's garbage. I have half a mind to get on my laptop just to get on Facebook again, download the image, and have the satisfaction of dragging it to the trash bin.

Some girl on my Facebook posted that picture (yes, yes she is white) and it was shared by her from a conservative page. I literally laughed because I thought it was a sarcastic image. Then I slowly realized that it could actually be real.

For those of you who don't know, in America there's a dating site called blackpeoplemeet. From the get-go it caused a ruckus, but it's been years since its initial opening and not a lot of people care anymore. Now, I'm going to tell you two things about this picture that are what make it insulting to see.

1.) Why "whitepeoplemeet", or whatever, is just plain wrong and stupid on so many levels and why you're stupid if you agree with the creation and validation of this website (assuming this image is real).

First of all, what we have to understand is why white people DONT need a dating site. The answer is simple: they already make up a majority of all the mainstream (and potentially underground) dating sites that exist (in the Western world of course)! So much so that other dating sites were created for other races that needed a space. Virtually, dating sites are not racist or prejudice. However, the ratio of whites to PoC on dating sites is so disproportionate that it is mostly run by white people (who usually date a- wait for it! Another white person!). A white could find another white very easily. Although you can usually chose your "preferred" race on these sites, mainstream sites are more popular with the white populous and so then you have created an imbalance.

It's fine to date the same race as you, but if you're a member of a site that has say... 100,000 members and only 500 are your race, and you only relate to or are interested in 40 of that 500, would you just be annoyed with the fact that there are no other members like you? The rest are another race? Yeah. You would. That's the problem PoC face. In a sea of white people, only a few are like them. Meanwhile, the white people have the majority and they tend to pick others of their race.

Now that you understand that, we can move on.

2.) Using the opinion of one PoC as your trump card against the majority (and honestly to make yourself look like less of a bigot) of that PoC is not okay.

"Hey! She's black and said it's okay to say n!gger!" Sounds a lot like, "He's black and doesn't care if I put shackles on him!"

Just because one person (one person meaning a small amount in this context) in that race said its okay doesn't mean your behavior isn't harming that entire race. This is exactly what this conservative page is doing, and this kind of tactic is a painfully obvious logical fallacy. This is one race group (usually the dominate in that society) saying that they can keep being oppressive because a handful of the oppressed "don't mind".

I put that in quotes because of my bonus bullet!!!!!!!!

3.) This is an example of typical coon behavior and a member of the oppressed trying to shame their group in able to rise into the level of the oppressor by emulating the oppressor's ideals.

Actually, coon is a pretty offensive word to use. It's similar to n!gger, in the sense that we as the black community have taken it back. The word coon comes from raccoon, which is notable for the mask-like pattern on the face. Coons were vaudeville performers during the turn of the century (and a bit before if I'm not mistaken). They were black people who found a way to live by performing in black face for white spectators. They would exaggerate themselves and behave like their stereotypes to make the white man laugh. Coons earned money this way (something that was hard for blacks post-Civil War) and some even became famous actors.

Nowadays coon refers to a black person that entertains white people and/or their ideals, usually to advance and at the expense of the black community. Raven Simoné has recently been criticized for behaving like a coon, and I heard that Kendrick Lamar has made coon-type comments. Usually these black people (obviously) wouldn't see their behavior as being coon-like. Why is that?

Well, it's because behaving like the white man and assimilating into white culture is what a PoC "must" do to be successful in the West. Acting like a white person is the standard, it's the bar. That's why when a black person uses AAVE they're chastised and a black person who speaks "properly" is praised. Black people who don't sag their pants are looked at as higher on the totem pole to the dominate race. Black people who have European names are more likely to be hired.

White is the standard, and if you don't act white you're in trouble.

This is all to say that the man in the picture is clearly a coon. Apparently BET, blacklivesmatter, blackpeoplemeet, and the likes should just go away because it's black people crying about stuff. He's striking cords with people who either are white or suck up to whites. Does he know why BET exists and continues to exist? Probably doesn't care. How about #BlackLivesMatter? Not a care in the world that it's an organization that is literally fighting for his rights as a black man. And blackpeoplemeet? There for him to meet a black woman he might not meet on eHarmony.

The reason why he doesn't have a problem is because he gets to laugh comfortably with his white coworkers as they tell degrading jokes about him and his people (jokes that he either agrees with or doesn't care about) and they pat him on the shoulder as if to say: "One day... One day."

Side note: I don't call white people Caucasian because in the Caucasus region there are people of color, which means the term Caucasian (that white people grasp onto to be different) isn't actually exclusive to their race. They're just white people, and that's not a bad thing. It's also an example of "self-exotification" (: